🏢 BIM and GIS Integration: Bringing Together Geo-Spatial Data and Design
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A more comprehensive perspective on a building or infrastructure is achieved by integrating the capabilities of geo-spatial location data with design procedures using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS informs BIM by giving architects and engineers a realistic picture of the surrounding environment of an asset, within which they can test out and assess potential design and building options. In this approach, BIM powers GIS by providing richer, more accurate models that may be used to enhance the overall operations and maintenance of assets across a greater area.
➡️ What is BIM?
Building Information Modeling, often known as BIM, is a process that is involved in the development and maintenance of digital representations of the physical and functional properties of a building or infrastructure, supported by a variety of tools, technologies, and contracts.
BIM is the backbone of digital transformation in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry. Collaboration among architects, engineers, real estate developers, builders, manufacturers, and other construction experts is greatly facilitated by using a single 3D model for planning, designing, and constructing a building.
BIM Software like Autodesk Revit and Navisworks are used for 3D BIM modeling and BIM coordination.
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➡️ What is GIS?
The Geographic Information System (GIS) gathers data regarding natural and built environmental assets in addition to other important aspects of geography, demography, and the social economy of the environment. It is a system that gathers, generates, integrates, maintains, and analyzes geographical data while employing maps to visualize the results of these processes.
Users are aided in their comprehension of patterns, spatial linkages, and geographical settings. In the end, it assists in making effective judgments about the administration of the facility as well as the operation and upkeep of such assets. Esri GeoBIM leads the GIS software, web GIS, and geodatabase management industry with a 43% market share.
➡️ Integration of BIM and GIS
The optimization of information flow between BIM, CAD, and geographical data is crucial for connecting GIS and BIM. The AEC sector around the world is rapidly moving toward a norm wherein design and geographical data are seamlessly integrated. ArcGIS BIM is rapidly being utilized to support common BIM and CAD file formats, which are used in a variety of planning, construction, operations, inspection, and maintenance processes.
The value of utilizing BIM data inside ArcGIS goes beyond simply integrating BIM material from a wide range of disciplines, sources, and applications into a selection of asset lifecycle procedures. The ArcGIS GeoBIM platform, a product of the merging of GIS and BIM, offers AEC companies an appealing option for managing projects and infrastructure in a spatial real-world environment.
➡️ GIS & BIM: The Benefits of Integration
- Transforming the Project Lifecycle
It assists in bringing context to the design and build workflows that lead to improved construction and restoration of facilities and infrastructure throughout the project lifecycle. ArcGIS GeoBIM makes it simple to keep scene layers up to date with the most recent intelligence gathered from design and construction software tools.
- Building Site Context with the Environment
Planners and designers will have a better grasp on how new developments will affect and interact with the surrounding natural and built environment if they use GIS and BIM together. As a result of bringing this information higher up the project lifecycle, managers will be better equipped to foresee problems, improve the project’s efficiency, and cut down on costly delays.
- Sensing Site Change
Drones, sensor input, and processed data have enabled quick 3D scanning, photography, and sensing. A detailed image of the original site can be created at the outset of any project, and subsequent scans can document the site’s evolution as different phases of construction are completed.
- Designing and Visualizing the Real World in 3D
3D is rapidly becoming the preferred medium for people to employ in the design, visualization, and evaluation of assets at all stages of their lifecycles. The use of 3D in tools and apps makes it easier to make greater use of spatial information to inform and guide the design process, which in turn helps projects accomplish their financial, environmental, and performance objectives.
- Optimizing Infrastructure Operation Intelligence
The IoT (Internet of Things) enables real-time monitoring of seismic and thermal activity in physical assets like bridges and buildings. There will be billions of sensors all across the planet, many of which will be built into the assets we use and then monitored and analyzed in 3D environments. This information will be used to feed Machine Learning (ML), which will then produce fresh understandings and insights when required. Discovering new avenues for designers to plan, deploy, and consume sensor information to boost the operational performance of large systems of assets is aided by this.
➡️ Applications of GIS and BIM Integration
- Flood Analysis: Flood analysis to find the best location and flood risk assessment.
- Shadow Analysis: Use of shadow analysis to confirm lightning duration for maximum sun exposure or optimal living conditions.
- Line-Of-Sight Analysis: A line-of-sight analysis can be used to preserve important sightlines during urban development planning.
- Worker Calculation: Calculating the optimal number of on-site workers in terms of security, equity, and output.
- Traffic Simulation : Creation of traffic simulation to understand the pedestrian and vehicular traffic of a city.
- Facility Management: The BIM-GIS integrated model provides information about the building that can be used by the facility management team.
- Clash Detection: Clash detection and coordination between existing utility and designed utility virtually ahead of time
➡️ BIM and GIS Case Study
- Norwegian Railway
The design team accelerated the Norwegian railway high-speed rail extension project using InfraWorks GIS data. The team drove design approvals by communicating design intent and concerns with over 120 stakeholders using extensive overlays of project critical constraints and proposed design models. In the planning and approval phase, the Connected BIM process saved 20% of time.
- City of Paris Flood Model
GIS, BIM, and reality capture data were utilized to generate this Paris flood model for critical analysis and design decisions. InfraWorks users can simulate, visualize, and animate flood occurrences in a 3D contextual model with the help of Autodesk and Hydronia. Practical river line and coastal flood simulations assist in assessing urban floodplain and coastal flood risk.
➡️ Conclusion
The goal of BIM GIS integration is to give AEC companies, project owners, operators, and governmental agencies the ability to concentrate not just on the what of infrastructure, but also on the where and the why of it. It is to create a future with infrastructure that is more resilient and sustainable, to make responsible use of the resources of our planet, and to cultivate conditions that are conducive to the growth of our cities and populations. In the end, utilizing GIS and BIM can imply enhanced workflows. It helps designers to take quality data driven decisions.
